Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/EarwigBot 11

The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at WT:BRFA. The result of the discussion was

Withdrawn by operator.

EarwigBot 11

Operator: The Earwig (talk · contribs)

Automatic or Manually assisted: Automatic, unsupervised

Programming language(s): Python

Source code available: tools:~earwig/earwigbot: see catmorebot_run.py

Function overview: Replaces transclusions of {{main}} in the category namespace with {{catmore}}.

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate): Wikipedia:Bot requests/Archive 34#"Main" vs. "Catmore" in Category namespace

Edit period(s): One large run at first, then monthly.

Estimated number of pages affected: 3442 initially, 20 or so afterwards

Exclusion compliant (Y/N): Y

Assert Edit flags used (exists, user/bot, none): none, unsupported by pywikipedia (I have never had a problem with this)

Already has a bot flag (Y/N): Y

Function details: This task is pretty simple. The bot will use a query to generate a list of categories that transclude the {{main}} template, or any redirects, and will replace them with {{catmore}}. The initial run will be pretty large (3442 pages), but subsequent runs are likely to be rather small. The query used is:

SELECT page_title FROM templatelinks JOIN page ON page_id = tl_from WHERE tl_title = "Main" AND tl_namespace = 10 AND page_namespace = 14;

Discussion

Why not build this into the {{Main}} template? Or would identifying the namespace require substitution..? - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 11:39, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure namespace detection can be done without substitution. However, while your idea would work and may be more efficient, I'm not entirely sure if I would be willing to completely change the message displayed by the template, which is normally very simple, for pages in a different namespace. What do other people think? — The Earwig ^(talk) 20:42, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Altering the {{main}} seems a reasonable thing to me; clearly editors are using it that way, and it seems a cleaner solution. My problem is, a good bot developer isn't necessarily a good template hacker - to where should this request be bounced? Josh Parris 04:05, 16 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've picked up a few template hacks ;). Hopefully Template:Main/sandbox is okay, if we actually want that instead of a bot...? I'd suggest we get some input from VP, or the talk pages of the templates. - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 15:59, 16 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'll happily close this BRFA if we decide it isn't necessary anymore. Perhaps, even, {{catmore}} could be redirected if it is redundant to {{main}}? — The Earwig ^(talk) 16:59, 16 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's a matter for WP:RfD, but I don't think it will be controversial. Josh Parris 13:02, 17 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(←) I've proposed the change for discussion at Template_talk:Main#Proposed_change_.28namespace_detection.29 (this is about changing the Template:Main, not getting rid of Template:Catmore). Probably a good idea to withdraw this if the change goes through. - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 13:08, 17 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Withdrawn by operator. Awesome, excellent work. — The Earwig ^(talk) 17:39, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at WT:BRFA.